Signal apparatus.



H. CS'ANXI.

SIGNAL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION man um. 15, 1915.

1,251,184. Patentad 1m 25,1917.

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. H. CSANYI.

SIGNAL APPARATUS,

AFPLICATlON mm JAN. 15. was.

Patented Dee 25,191?

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I wwwim UNITED $TATES PATENT orrroa.

HENRY csANYI, or NEW- YORK, 11. Y.

SIGNAL APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY CSANYI, a c1t1- zen-of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York'and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Signal Apparatus, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto signals, and particularly to such signals as are carried by vehicles. The invention is particularly applicable to rear end signals intended to pre-.. vent collisions, and a principal ob ect of the invention is to produce a very simple andeiiicient rear end signal which will operate to indicate whether the vehicle carrying the signal is moving or stopped. Many accidents to automobiles occur due to the fact that a car ahead will turn suddenly to the right or left. without warning to a car following.

The invention is applicable to such automobiles, or other road vehicles, and one of the objects of the invention when ap lied to that use, is to enable'the signal to indicate the direction the vehicle will take. in making a turn.

Further objects of the invention will appear more clearly hereinafter.

The invention consists in the general combination of parts and features hereinafter.

described, all of which contribute to produce an eflicient signal.

The preferred embodiment of 'my invention will be particularly described in the following specification, while the broad scope of my invention will be pointed out in the appended claims. In'the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating my signal as applied to the rear end of a railway car or train.

Fig. 2 is a rear'elevation of a modified form of the invention indicating the application of my signal to the rear end of an automobile, in which relation the signal may perform the functions of the ordinary automobile tail light.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a semaphore such as is shown in Fig. 2 and representing the same detached from the operative mechanism of the signal.

Specification ofj'ietters Patent; Patented Dec, 25, 1917, Application filed January 15, 1915. 'Seria1No. 2,377, 7

' 4 is a vertical section'talren through a part of the casing of the signal and illus- Before proceeding to a, detailed descrip- ,tion of the invention it should be stated that,

the particular construction of the signal derearof the vehiclef carrying the vice set forth herein is merely by way of illustration, asobviously the invention; may be embodied in many different constructions. The invention, however, should embody means for indicating a signal or message to a person in the rear of the vehicle, the

character of which is controlled in some way from the driving gear of the-vehicle so that when the vehicle stops a danger signal appears and when the vehicle starts the dangersignal is eliminated. In other words,

when the vehicle stops, it automatically 'displays a danger signal. This arrangement tends to prevent accidents from rear end collisions. As applied to the rear ofan automobile my signal will not only indicate whether the automobile is stopped or moving, but it will also indicate, by reason of its driving. connection with the vehicle, whether the automobile is to proceed to the left or right.

Referring more particularly to the parts,

and especially to Figs. 4 and 5, 10 repre-' sents a signal device such as a semaphore arm, which 15 preferably mounted on a rock shaft 11 so that it can occupy a'position un-' de'rstood to indicate danger, thatis, that the vehicle carrying the signal has stopped, said semaphore being arranged to move automatically to another position such asthat indicated by the dotted lines 10, at which time the accepted meaning of the message would be safe, that is, that the vehicle is in motion.

I prefer to control the rock shaft from a moving part of the running gear of the vehicle so that when the vehicle is in motion a movement is transmitted to he rock shaft which will move the signal from its danger position and which will raise the semaphore to its safe position. This is preferably accomplished through the medium of a centrifugal device 12, which is preferably mounted in a suitable weather-tight case 13.

This centrifugal mechanism may be of any desired construction. I have represented it as consistingsimply of a hollow shaft 14, one end of which projects from the case so as tobe attached to a flexible shaft 15. The

flexible shaft 15 is driven at a relatively high speed of rotation from some moving part of the vehicle. The inner end of the shaft 14 is mounted in a Suitable bearing 16. On the-hollow shaft lea suitable collar 17 is provided, to which centrifugal arms 18 are pivotally attached at 19, said arms provided 'withf adjustable weights 20 and 1 connected by links 21 witha collar 22 adapted to slide on the hollow shaft 14. This collar is iconnected by a pin 23 through a slot 24; with. an inner shaft or spindle 25, and the end of this spindle is connected with an arm 26 which is rigidly attached by an adjustable set screw 27 to the 'rock'shaft 11'. I Any suitable connection may be made between the inner spindle 25 and the arm26. Ihave illustrated this connection as consisting simply of a reduced neck 28 formedon the spindle, which is straddled by a rounded yoke 29. Evidently, when the speed of rotation 1 of the hollow shaftl l is high, the weights 20 will fly out and tend to pull the collar 22 toward the rockshaft 11. This exerts a thrust and movement in the inner shaft or spindle 25 which moves the arm'26 toward the right, and this will swing the semaphor up toward dotted line position 10*.

For operation in daylight the semaphore is sufii'cent, but when the signal is to be used at night I prefer to provide in conjunction with the signal, a lamp such as the lamp 30, and the semaphore is hung'directly in front of this lamp. Furthermore the semaphore preferably is provided with three lenses 31, 32 and 33, the centers of which are arranged in an arc with the axis of the rock shaft 11 as its center. The lens 31 is preferably mounted on the central axis of the semaphore'arm, but the lenses 32 and shaped quadrant 34 forming an extension 33 are most conveniently mounted in an are Latinas as full speed, for instance, quarter speed or half speed. I prefer to arrange the centrifugal device in such a way that when the ve' hicle is proceeding at half speed the lens 32 will be held before thelamp, and when the vehicle is at full speed the lens 33 will beheld beforethe lamp. The position of the signal illustrated in Fig. 4 corresponds to the danger sign or message. When the lens 32 is before the lamp the signal will indicate caution, from which it is understood that the vehicle is not proceeding at full speed. i The lenses may have any conventional colors, such as red for the lens 31, yellow for the lens 32.and green for-the lens33, or'they'may correspond to any other signal codedesired.. c

When the signal is F applied to the end ofa vehicle such as a'car35,the. .fiexi 1z ible shaft '15 may be driven in any. suitablei:

manner, for :example by means" of: small h Wheel 36 running on the faceof one of the wheels37 of the rear truck ofthe car. The wheel 36 may be carried upon a: small farm 38, to which is attached aspring 39 which if holdsthe face of :the -wheel on the:

Wheel 37..

The signal case ma it held sat-a on the-rear bolster: of the car/frame ianyzfl suitablemanner.

Aasingle signal, such that 'describedg' may be' applied-to the rear ofan automobile,

in which case, however, it may notbe nee-i essa and 11; may be merely necessary to indicate the position of the semaphore;- l-lcncevin applying the signal to an automobile .1 prefer to construct the semaphore as indicated in Fig. 3, wherein 40 indicates the sei'naphore arm havlng a colored area 41 near its tip and provided with a colored lens 42, behind which a suitable electriclightltiis attached to the semaphore, connection to the light being made through a suitable flexible electric light cord at. .This cable or cord of course permits the necessary. .movements of the semaphore. K v

As automobiles are so easily controlled it 1s not necessary that this signal should indicate a signal to a person at a great dis tance in the rear, and hence the simple change of position of thelight is suflicient to apprise the person. driving the following car carrying vehicle of the condition of the the signal.

Where it is desired to have the signal indicate' also the direction in which an automobile or car is about to make a turn the semaphores are preferably duplicated. This is most conveniently done by *providinga complete signal 45, such as already described, on each side of the car. struction of the centrifugal devices of these to indicate anintermediate speed,: i

The 'con- 9 signal devices may be substantially the same suitable differential gear case as that illustrated: in Figs; wl ar flexible shaftselllinay be driven I v W I able manner through the medium of pi. ion ll moshingwith large gears $8 on the hubs of the shoals l9 ended The signal device l5 may be attached to the rear ofthe aut'omobile body 51. The automobile" supposed to have any connnondilferential drive for the rear axle which may be carried in a With such a drive it is well known the wheels 49 and 50 may travel at different speeds. Supposing that the automobile illustrated is turning to the right, then the wheel l9 Wlll be turning very slowly so that its semaphore arm l0 will occupy a nearly horizontal position. The wheel 50, however, will be in more rapid motion and will operate through the centrifugal mechanism of the left-hand signal to cause its semaphore to be raised higher than the other semaphore and occupy some such position as that indicated in the dotted outline 40 This double signal is particularly useful at night, as the relative height of the lights will indicate which direction the automobile is turning.

If desired the flexible shafts 4:6 may be crossed so that the signal which becomes active will lie on the side toward which the vehicle will turn.

The semaphore preferably should not be raised to a vertical position, but only approximately so,- and hence even in its uppermost possible position which should be not over about 60 degrees from the horizontal line, it always tends to move down to the horizontal or danger position. Thereforein the present instance I have shown an arrangement which insures, that the semaphore arm will not be raised to a true vertical position no matter how high the running speed of the vehicle may be, Referring particularly to Fig, 5 of the drawings it will be seen that case 13 is provided with a short narrow approximately oblong extension or housing 13 within the parallel side walls of which the rock-shaft 11 is journaled. The end wall 13" of this extension constitutes a stop to limit the outward movement of the spindle 25, the neck end of such spindle contacting with the bottom of the depression 13 in the outward movement of the spindle before the semaphore arm can assume a true vertical position. Thus in addition to forming a bearing and housing for the rockshaft 11, this extension of the casing acts as a stop to limit the vertical travel of the semaphore arm. With this arrangement I avoid the necessity to use any springs, and furthermore I attain a practical advantage in this, that if any part of the signal device becomes broken the signal will come automatically to its danger position. It is also evident that if the vehicle stops from any side o a I i arm I ways renal t return from any position, even its ugh-e;

possible position. It is understood that the embodiment the invention set forth herein is onl 1 one limited in the practice of m invention nor in my claims to the partic ar embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. In a rear signaldevice for vehicles the combination with a casing having a housing extending from one wall thereof, of a recirshaft journaled in opposite walls of the housing, a signal arm connected with one end of the rock-shaft outside the housing, a rotatable shaft adapted to be driven from a rotating part of the vehicle, centrifugal weights, arms carrying said weights and pivotally connected with said shaft, a spindle connected with said arms and adapted to be moved longitudinally of said shaft, and a loose connection between said spindle and the rock shaft, the outward movement of said spindle under the centrifugal action of the weights raising the signal arm to ward a, vertical position, the outward movement of the spindle being limited by a part of the housing to prevent said signal arm reaching a true vertical position.

2. In a rear signal device for vehicles a casing having a housing extending laterally and exteriorly from one wall thereof, a rock shaft journaled in opposite walls of the housing, a signal arm connected with the fill rock shaft, and means for moving said arm toward the vertical when the vehicle is in motion, a part of said housing constituting a stop for limiting the movement of the arm moving means in one direction, and thereby preventing said signal arm reaching a true vertical position.

3. A signal for vehicles comprisin a portable casin adapted to be attached to the rear end of the vehicle, a rock shaft, a semaphore arm connected with said rock shaft and adapted under theinfluence of gravity to normally occupy a horizontal position, a spindle extending at right angles to the rock shaft, a loose connection between the spindle and the rock shaft, a sleeve shaft through. which the spindle passes, a collar sliding on the sleeve shaft and connected with the spindle, a second collar fast with the sleeve shaft, centrifugal weights linked to the collars and adapted when the vehicle is in motion to move outward under centrifugal force and to shift the spindle in the direction of the rock shaft and move the arm in a vertical direction, and a stop for limiting the movement of the spindle in the direction 5 of the rock shaft and thereby limiting the vertical movement of the arm and preventing the arm assuming a true vertical position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 1n presence of two subscribing wit- 10 nesses.

v HENRY CSANYI.

Witnesses: Y i F D. AMMEN,

A. DE Mon. 

